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What is the best method to run Steam on Ubuntu?

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It's been recently reported that work on a native Steam client for Linux is still ongoing. For anyone who would be interested in possibly running Steam without Wine in the future, it's something worth keeping an eye on. – WarriorIng64 Apr 25 at 20:00
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4 Answers

up vote 28 down vote accepted

PlayOnLinux Install playonlinux

Offers the easiest method for installing Steam and Steam Games. Installation is pretty straight forward:

sudo wget http://deb.playonlinux.com/playonlinux_lucid.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/playonlinux.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install playonlinux

Once installed you'll have the PlayOnLinux option in Applications > Games where you can run and choose to install Steam.

PlayOnLinux takes the pains of configuring Wine to work with specific applications and instead creates separate Wine environments for each installed game/application. Ensuring it works as best as possible within Wine.

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Just to also note - I went ahead and installed Steam on my desktop ( I usually don't play games on this machine ) and seems to actually be just as smooth as Windows - in regards to button clicks and interacting. I haven't installed any of the Valve games, but feedback from other Ubuntu community members seems positive! – Marco Ceppi♦ Aug 9 '10 at 17:26
So PlayOnLinux is the recommended method? I am waiting for Steam to come out for Linux too. – Shubh Aug 9 '10 at 17:26
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Currently the only way to get Steam to work in Linux is with Wine - PlayOnLinux in my opinion is the best method to get applications like Steam to work in Wine since it takes care of the tedious configurations and version issues that most people encounter when setting up Windows Applications in Wine. – Marco Ceppi♦ Aug 9 '10 at 18:16
+1 to Play on Linux. @Marco, Source games run pretty well with WINE. So do the Popcap games, and many others. – LFC_fan Nov 5 '10 at 7:58
I tried Steam with PlayOnLinux and even the Steam interface ran so slowly I couldn't use it. – Roddie Nov 22 '10 at 13:44
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up vote 6 down vote

The easiest way to run Steam on Ubuntu is definitely Crossover Games. CX Games supports a lot of games like Starcraft II, Civilization V, Left4Dead and so on. Furthermore there is professional support you can contact if you run into problems. Try the trial version!

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Plus that money goes to Codeweavers who are the commercial backers of WINE – LFC_fan Nov 5 '10 at 7:55
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up vote 5 down vote

I recommend you to use plain Wine without PlayOnLinux. Winetricks is helpful, however.

Steam Games on Linux website has detailed information about which games can be played successfully, and what you have to do for that.

  • First of all, make sure you have installed proprietary graphics drivers if they are available.
  • Install the latest Wine.
  • Configure Wine (look at STEAM + WINE CONFIGURATION section)
  • Go to Winetricks and follow these steps:
    • Select the default wineprefix OK
    • Install a Windows DLL or component OK
    • It is important to mark d3dx9 here. Optional packages that may be needed for some games: d3dx10, vb6run, vcrun2005, vcrun2008, vcrun2010, physx. OK
    • Install a font OK
    • Mark corefonts and tahoma. OK
  • Next, download Steam and go through the installer.
  • When you create an account or just log in, you should have no trouble downloading your games through Steam as usual and playing them.
  • Make sure to change video settings in the game to low ASAP (don't miss the "advanced" video settings for Valve's games). Windowed mode is mostly better. It is good to restart the game after this.
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+1 :) excellent post BlaXpirit. – Rinzwind Aug 28 '11 at 14:44
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up vote 3 down vote

I just install Steam on 10.10 this morning with wine and it was super easy. That said the actual games are another story. Just download the .msi file from steam and use the terminal to install it.

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You can also use playonlinux.com/en – Shubh Oct 13 '10 at 23:59
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